Former University of Colorado cornerback Terrence Wheatley is on the clock. His countdown to the draft has been in motion since his senior season ended in Boulder. And with the scouting combine behind him, Wheatley's third big step will come later this month at his pro day in Boulder. He will keep a diary along the way for the Rocky Mountain News of the places he goes and the people he sees.
The combine, now that was definitely an experience, really a wake-up call for me. When I thought of the combine before I went to it, you just see the 40, you just see the workouts and you think that's it. You always think it can't be that hard.
But after three or four days of being treated like a piece of meat basically, you see all there is to it. And you know quickly it's a lot more than you ever thought it was with the interviews and, of course, the medical stuff.
And, with my medical history, those were two of my longer days.
The first day I was there basically I met with the X-ray machine. A day of X-rays - I'd say around 50 X-rays, give or take.
The second day you meet with the team physicians, doctors from every team, and for me that took a while because everybody wanted to look at my wrist. I had to give the whole explanation about my wrist (he underwent two surgeries on his right wrist in 2005) like 100 times. It probably wasn't that many, but you have to explain the injury, what you had done and all of that.
"It just blew my mind. They're in there shouting out things you had done to yourself, all of your injuries, what year you had them, they're all taking notes. I mean, they were bringing up stuff you had in high school. People don't know - I know I didn't - but injuries you had in high school can affect your draft status.
They even sent some guys back to the hospital for more tests because of things they had in high school.
I was like, "Man, I mean I got an X-ray because I pulled my hamstring two years ago." They don't leave any stone unturned. You lie on the table and you have anywhere from four to five doctors tugging on you in the room. And when they're done with you, then you go to another room and there is another group of four or five doctors waiting to do it again.
But you know they don't want to invest in somebody who might already be broken.
As far as the actual workout, I was happy with what I did. I was in the top five in the position group for most everything, and I felt like I stood out in the position drills. In the 40, 4.37 isn't a bad day at the office.
It was definitely nice to go out there and compete against the best, against the guys you've seen on TV.
So it was a long four days, but it was just incredible. I guess I wouldn't mind doing it again, even though you don't sleep much. My first day I had a 4 a.m. wake- up call for the drug test, then you wait with 75 other guys trying to do the drug test as well.
Then you're just going from then on, psychological tests - one had 250 questions - interviews, the medical checks and then the workout. You're going right to the end. Basically, I ran my last shuttle (drill), ran back to the hotel, packed, no shower, no anything, went to the airport to catch my flight.
Then my flight got delayed for a few hours, I ended up missing my connection in Atlanta, so I was still in the airport in Atlanta at 11 o'clock at night. I was stuck, sitting there, had nothing to do, was tired, was sore.
I tried to relax, but I think that was the most sore I had ever been from a workout. I felt like I had played a game after that, but it was probably a combination of the pressure you're feeling and you're just going as hard as you possibly can go in everything.
You have all those general managers, coaches and team presidents looking at you, you're going to put it all out there for them.
Now I'll come back to Boulder . . . to the mountains and give myself a couple weeks to get used to the altitude again before pro day, you know, so I don't faint.
I don't think I'm going to run another 40 because of how I did in Indy, and I'll stick to the positional drills for the coaches, but I might run again because I know how I am.
Another opportunity to run fast sounds good to me. I might just run it again, just one time, just to prove a point that the 4.37 wasn't a fluke. My agent probably wouldn't like me to do it, but I know how I am.
I just might get there and just want to show it again.
